Murray’s Moon Boy Golden Ale

Another Murray’s to tick off my list and it’s a Golden Ale – beer code for a light-flavoured Ale. Last light-flavoured brew of theirs I had, Rudeboy, was alright (though it was nothing to write home about… unless home was a beer blog and you were writing a beer review), fingers crossed this one isn’t a big pile of average, with average sauce on top. What!? 4.5% ABV! My average beer alert has already been tripped.

Poured from a 330ml bottle into a nonic pint.

A: Wow, this looks more like a glass of dirty hazy brown river water than a beer – absolutely no head either. This is the saddest beer I have ever seen and I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t look like this, something has gone awry here. 1/10.

S: The aroma is a bit more of an improvement (how could it not be!?) with notes of papaya, lychee, cut grass and sour lemon. Still there is an odd taint pervading the aroma, it’s almost as unsettling as the appearance. 4/10.

T: Above flavours, as noted, with a finish that is more sour than bitter, this in of itself is strange for the style. I’m convinced this is tainted batch, but it’s not light-struck (it doesn’t have the characteristics for this). I believe it’s just been on the shelf too long, and when you purchase from a major chain you’re bound to get the occasional out of date “shelf-sitter”, oh well. 3/10.

M: Totally flat, mid to light bodied, nothing going on here. 2/10.

D: One of the weirdest beer experiences of my life. It actually tastes like my first ever homebrew batch – which was an unmitigated disaster. I will have to give this beer a re-review in the future – not unlike the Delirium Tremens of which I had purchased from the same major liquor chain – I really shouldn’t buy anymore beer from that chain. 3/10.

Food match: I really can’t recommend any pairing based on this review, besides I’m 99% sure this is a tainted batch – check back for a re-review.